I am an essayist specializing in the Bahá'í Principles. Essays come out every day or so. Contact me at: badijet@gmail.com

Sunday, December 14, 2014

p13 Atheism Question on Quora

On quora, the following question was asked:Why don't atheists believe in gods? (https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-atheists-believe-in-gods)This is an issue that bugs me, because of my personal path and history. I am never sure if my answer is registered there, so here, on my less used blog, is my answer:Kind of an obvious point, but monotheists don't believe in gods either. Here is common ground with atheists. That is where it ends.

Imagine if school were optional. Kids could pull out in grade three, or four, or whatever and declare that they don't "believe" in knowledge. They would miss out on the entire heritage of humankind. All history, the hopes and dreams of all who have gone before us. All the discoveries made at great cost. They then would go through life with the same, stunted understanding of what they understood in grade three, or four, or wherever they were when they quit.

If they are proud of their ignorance, and are fanatical, they will go about declaring it as a kind of belief, as opposed to something learned, understood and shared. They will try to convert more educated people to their fanatical limitations. These are atheists. If they have the humility to recognize their limitation for what it is, they are agnostics.

That is my understanding, speaking as a former atheist converted to belief in God. When I believed I recognized my ignorance, as did Socrates, a believer who even many atheists claim as their own. Then I learned a whole new language. The language of humility, the recognition that humans have limits and that God has none, but is willing to help. I saw the sacrifice that religious teachers and believers made through the centuries to advance this language of faith. This is the belief that sustains the poor suffering billions.

Mostly, I saw how elitist the atheists are. I call their faith "professorism." If you read Dawkins or any of the other new/old atheists, they are really saying, "I am a great mind, those who do not believe what I do are pathetically ignorant." The poor are suffering because they have not attained the summit of a professor. That, I must say, is a "grade one" level of religious understanding. Arrogance instantiated.I encourage all my agnostic and atheist friends to swallow a little humility, recognize our inherent human limits, and learn a little religion.